Operant conditioning techniques were used to establish imitation in the manner outlined by Baer. Countercontrol was assessed in motor and vocal imitation across four motivational levels. Three levels of food deprivation, i.e., three hour, fourteen hour, and twenty-one hour, plus a final response contingent shock level, composed the parameters.

An experiment was conducted to contrast the effectiveness of Behavior Therapy administered in self, individual, or group therapy versus a no-treatment control condition. The therapy conditions were administered to two subgroups, high and low self reinforcers, as defined by Rosensky and Bellack (1976). The general hypothesis was that high self reinforcers would engage in countercontrol and therefore do poorly in group and individual therapy, but would lose weight in self therapy. Individual behavior therapy showed the best long term results, but self and group therapies also showed significant weight loss. It was also found that low self reinforcers as a group lost more weight than did high self reinforcers.